By On October 26th, search volumes for the word “blockchain” skyrocketed in China after President Xi Jinping said that his administration would embrace blockchain technology.
On the day after Xi’s speech, the word “blockchain” was searched over 72,000 times on Baidu, the equivalent of Google in China. This represented a nearly 14x surge compared to the previous day.
The latest data from WeChat, which accounts for a major volume of internet searches in China, also indicated that the number of blockchain-related queries on the platform increased by more than 300%, just days after Xi’s speech.
This is despite WeChat’s recent announcement to never support cryptocurrency trading nor any crypto merchant integration. The multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app registered over 9.2 million searches for blockchain-related keywords.
The trend repeated over the weekend on both Baidu and WeChat as searches for “blockchain” continued to rise.
This comes as calls increase for the U.S to embrace blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies or risk being left behind by countries like China, who have embraced blockchain tech.
Improving Fortunes for Cryptocurrencies
The sudden surge in searches for “blockchain” appears to have had a direct impact on the crypto market, as more than $38 billion were injected into the industry, with the total market capitalization rising from $194 billion to $232 billion.
According to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the strong support for blockchain tech by China could be the catalyst for the next upturn in the crypto space. He twitted:
“Today, President Xi Jinping stated strong support (or necessity) for blockchain development by China. Not making any predictions, draw your own conclusions. We are still here.”
Bitcoin Drives More Interest
Bitcoin also invoked a similar spike in curiosity in Chinese internet users following President Xi’s public endorsement of blockchain tech. However, search queries for blockchain still outdid Bitcoin, which is predictable, bearing in mind that President Xi’s speech was only focused on the potential of blockchain tech.
Moreover, Bitcoin trading is banned in China, and the communist government’s focus on blockchain is unlikely to change that status quo.
Comments